The wonders of nature. Gotta love it.

Posted Saturday, March 6, 2010, at 3:48 PM

The ever persistent opossum.

Yesterday I felt bad about a possum our dogs apparently killed. They dragged it into the greenhouse (really it was not "they", it was PITA) and knowing that possums play possum (play dead) I handled in carefully and moved it to a brush pile. I could swear I saw some body movement, so I expected it would move on.

An hour later, the dogs had it back in the greenhouse and this time it really seemed dead so I buried it under about a foot of wood ash. This time I just grabbed it with my bare hands because I was pretty sure it was gone. I was not burying to keep it in, I was burying in ashes because I thought the lye would keep the smell concealed and the dogs don't like getting ashes in their noses.

A half hour ago my mother-in-law told me loudly that there was an animal at the sliding glass door. I am 99% sure it was the possum I buried yesterday. She came up to the door, looked in and then walked away. Was she coming to tell me, "I wasn't dead Turkey"?

I am pretty sure she was the same one, because of size, she went straight to their normal hiding place and she was wet from having cleaned herself off. There is no other reason to be wet today.

Luckily the dogs were on a "walk about" so I escorted the possum back up to its hiding place under a dog house we have up the hill. To soothe my guilty conscience, I brought her some dog food to munch on. The wonders of nature.

OK, the article was speaking of many natural deterrents. After I read it for real, it had little new (at least to me), but my mind was running a little and I was wondering if the squirrels were bothering something specific, a few items or digging?

Are they in your raised beds?

We have a bunch around us but with our dogs and cats they have little time to get into trouble, except the bird feeders. Those we use a barrier shield to keep them from getting to the feeders.

-- Posted by stevemills on Tue, Mar 16, 2010, at 8:00 AM

I read something new about that recently. Let me check to see what it was.

-- Posted by stevemills on Mon, Mar 15, 2010, at 1:32 PM

Steve do you have any suggestions on keeping squirrels away from plants?

-- Posted by cherokee2 on Mon, Mar 15, 2010, at 9:26 AM

They sure look nasty but seem to co-exist with our cats down the road. There is one that now comes whenever we feed the felines.

It has taken to the tree that the cats used when they were small and looks out at me while I sit with the cats. After I leave, I am sure it finishes up whatever is left. The cats watch it, but don't seemed alarmed.

One of our garden club members told us of one that actually shared a pet container with her cats. No fighting. They just seemed to ignore each other.

-- Posted by stevemills on Sun, Mar 7, 2010, at 7:04 PM

Too funny. We had one in our garage a few weeks ago...alive and healthy...and some how one of the dogs jumped right over it to greet my husband as he responded to my constant horn honk as I attempted to drive into the garage. They are definately nasty buggers!

Steve Mills and his wife have one daughter. They previously owned two coffee/ice cream shops, currently operate an internet sales company and teach classes, but his primary job involves the paper industry worldwide. Hobbies and interests lie in gardening, photography, recorded music and of course, their pets.